The Eklavya India Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in India.[1][2]
History
Eklavya India Foundation was founded in May 2017.[3]
The foundation works with first-generation college students[4] from historically marginalised groups, such as Adivasi, Dalit, nomadic tribes, and OBC's to help them access higher education, break the cycle of poverty, and become role models in their communities.[5][6]
Programs and activities
Eklavya serves as a support system, providing mentorship, training, and guidance to first-generation learners from historically underrepresented communities of Maharashtra. This empowers them to pursue education at premier Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) while fostering grassroots leadership in academia, policy, law, media, and development. The foundation trains students for undergraduate and postgraduate educational opportunities and conducts career-building training programs for graduates.[7][8][9]
The Eklavya Global Scholars Program (GSP) helps students prepare for master's and PhD programs in top universities worldwide, focusing on humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields.[14][15][16] The program addresses the underrepresentation of students from marginalised communities in India at the Global level, the pilot batch saw over 60 first-generation students, with 50 receiving offers from Ivy League and tier-2 universities in Europe and the United States.[17][18][19]
The Eklavya Foundation worked with more than 150 scholars in its first two cohorts of Master's and PhD programs, supporting them with their application processes. Seventy-five scholars have been accepted into worldwide universities, including Harvard, Columbia, and Georgetown in the USA, and the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL, Edinburgh, and SOAS in the UK and several other academic institutions.[20]